Castlevania IV (1991)

Genre: Platformer | Players: 1 | Developer: Konami

I refuse to call a Nintendo game by the obligatory console moniker if it’s numbered. Deal. 

To cut straight to the quick: If you find Castlevania 1 and 3 too hard and you want the warm and fuzzies of being able to say you beat a classic entry in the series, this is the game for you. You can reverse your jumps in mid-air (to a slight degree) and your whip is OP as all fuck. You can attack in the eight cardinal directions and, yes, Egoraptor was (mostly) right. You don’t need the sub-weapons, aside from one critical instance. You’ll remember I had a similar issue with Final Fantasy XIII-2.

Despite the ego boost, there is something lacking. I prefer every other “classic” Castlevania that I've experienced, to this. Maybe there is something to getting your ass kicked by the more iconic entries, after all. Plus, the levels don’t grab me or manifest as much atmosphere as the ones comprising the NES games. This is very contrary to the norm for me, and I am rather perplexed by it.

The free rotate tool....I mean, Mode 7 is used in a small stretch but does little to impress in 2013. I know from a historical stand point that this game made a big impression as a fairly early SNES title, and I’m usually pretty fanboy-ish when it comes to the system. Still, this has never had much in the way of staying power in Negland, obligatory hard mode, or not.

Buyer’s Guide: It’s an SNES game. It’s on the Virtual Console and the SNES mini.

3 STS Logos of Future-Past out of 5